Rangers forward Daniel Carcillo was suspended 10 games for his physical run-in with linesman Scott Driscoll in the team's 3-2 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals Thursday night.

A week later, Canadiens goaltender Carey Price is out with a right knee injury, Rangers center Derek Stepan is recovering from surgery Friday evening to repair a fractured jaw, Habs left wing Brandon Prust is suspended for two games for hitting Stepan and Blueshirts left wing Daniel Carcillo is suspended for 10 games for physical abuse of linesman Scott Driscoll.

The Rangers still lead the series, 2-1, with Game 4 coming up Sunday at Madison Square Garden, but the rhetoric and emotions have elevated significantly following multiple incidents in the Canadiens’ 3-2 overtime win in Game 3 Thursday night.

“As games progress in the series, the competitive nature of players and coaches come out,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said Friday. “Obviously, every game has their moments, every game has their incidents where sometimes blood can boil on one side or the other.”

The Rangers’ blood was boiling Thursday night after Prust – a former Ranger – caught Stepan in the upper chest and jaw with a late hit 2:45 into the first period and no penalty was called. The video from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety explaining Prust’s suspension cited the “extreme lateness” of the hit after Stepan passed the puck and “the significant head contact that results from the way it was delivered.”

“I think guys were unhappy there wasn’t a penalty on the play,” Rangers left wing Chris Kreider said Friday. “Obviously, it was away from the play to begin with, so not a lot of people saw it. But, I think the sentiment today is the same as it was yesterday – that it wasn’t a clean hit.”

The Blueshirts were even more unhappy with Prust after a CT scan Friday morning revealed Stepan’s jaw was fractured on the hit. X-rays taken Thursday night did not reveal the fracture, so Stepan returned to play the remainder of the game. Stepan still had some pain Friday morning, though, so he was sent to see a specialist and had to have surgery Friday after the fracture was discovered.

The Rangers have not ruled out Stepan playing Sunday with a full cage on his helmet to protect his jaw. They expect to have a better idea of that today.

The Rangers also don’t know yet whether they’ll get center Derick Brassard back from the undisclosed injury that’s kept him out of the past two games. Vigneault said Friday that Brassard is “still day to day.”

They’ll definitely be without Carcillo, who appeared to elbow Driscoll during a fight between Prust and Rangers left wing Derek Dorsett – which stemmed from Prust’s hit on Stepan. So, the Rangers will need to insert at least one forward and possibly as many as three.
J.T. Miller and Jesper Fast, who have played previously in this year’s playoffs, would be the top two candidates.

The Canadiens had to make their own adjustments after Price was injured in a second-period collision with Kreider in Game 1. Rookie Dustin Tokarski has filled in admirably in Price’s place, making 35 saves in Game 3 to earn his first NHL playoff win.

“If there is a team that can understand the loss of a player, it’s us,” Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said. “We lost Carey Price in the first game of the series with the hit on Kreider when he hit Carey Price, and we felt frustrated at the time. We’re still frustrated not having our goalie, our No. 1 most important player.”

Therrien defended Prust, saying his “intention was not to hurt Stepan. It was to try to finish his check.” He also called the play “a hockey hit.”

Vigneault, who began the series talking fondly about his time working with Therrien in the Canadiens’ organization, disagreed and noted how it was Prust that accused Kreider of running into Price “accidentally on purpose.”

“Late hit, everything that you want to get out of the game, that was his hit on Stepan,” Vigneault said of Prust.
So, the time for exchanging pleasantries in this series is now clearly over. As Canadiens center Lars Eller put it, over time, “It all adds up and builds that hatred.”